what we're learning tonight about those e-mails that first raised suspicions and new questions about the fbi investigation. going to extremes, so many still suffering two whole weeks now after hurricane sandy. and now after the hurricane, then the snow. now it feels like spring while winter hits out west. risk factor, a reality check tonight from dr. nancy snyderman on the story in the news today about pregnancy, the flu, and autism. and behind the wheel, tonight how women are taking the lead. this has to do with a huge change that has happened slowly on the american roads. nightly news begins now. good evening, the damage, both personal and political, continues to pile up following the resignation of the director

of the cia, retired four-star general david petraeus. easily the most celebrated general officer of a generation. and now, the questions are rolling in about the extramarital affair that led to all of this, about the e-mails that led the fbi to petraeus. and how much further this all goes. we begin our reporting of the story tonight with nbc's andrea mitchell in our washington news room, good evening, andrea. >> reporter: good evening, brian, new questions tonight on why the fbi did not tell the president or the intelligence leaders about the involvement of petraeus's acknowledged mistress for months, even on new allegations on how it began. we learned today on what was in the e-mails to jill kelley, the family friend whose call for help to the fbi kicked off the investigation.

nbc news investigative correspondent michael isikoff. the e-mails accuse her of associating with the general in tampa, but they had accesses on the comings and goings of david petraeus, news that somebody had high access to information. her brother says she is a victim >> my sister, number one is a mother, she has three kids and is very dedicated to the kids. number two, she is a wife and has been extremely dedicated to her husband. >> reporter: who would have access to the classified schedule? the fbi says that the trail led to the biographer, paula broadwell, seen here on a mission in 2010, in afghanistan a military reservist and fellow west point graduate, broadwell attended the general's confirmation hearing for the cia according to petraeus's account to friends, a few months later their affair began and lasted for ten months. broadwell often talked about her security clearances and recently about the benghazi attack, seeming to cite inside information.

>> now, i don't know if a lot of you heard this, but the cia had actually taken a couple of libya militia members prisoner, and they think the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get the prisoners back. so that is still being vetted >> do you have any information on that? >> no, my staff was told about that, they were told this is not correct, we'll see. i mean, this is something we need to check out and check out carefully, and we will. >> reporter: feinstein will chair a senate inquiry into benghazi later this week. she wants to know what was learned by the senate chief resigned. >> we have asked to see the trip report, one person tells me he has read it, we try to get it. it has not been done, that is unacceptable, we are entitled to that. and if we have to go to the floor of the senate on a subpoena we will do just that >> reporter: michael rogers also wanted to know why the president

didn't learn about the fbi investigation until last thursday and why they didn't learn until a day later, the day petraeus resigned. but house majority leader eric cantor learned about it two weeks earlier, from an agent who tipped off congress. petraeus's predecessor at the cia says there is a responsibility to keep congress informed. nbc has repeatedly reached out to broadwell, who has not been successful the kelley family has appealed for privacy all right, andrea mitchell starting us off from washington, thank you. the fbi and the justice department are standing by their handling of the petraeus case. our justice correspondent pete williams is outside the justice department tonight, pete, good evening. >> reporter: brian, officials here concede there are no rules for reporting the discovery that the senior member of the intelligence community is having an affair. but they say there are rules against disclosing what is going on during a criminal investigation.

law enforcement officials say the fbi began by tracing where those threatening e-mails sent to jill kelley were coming from. which cities, which hotels? and eventually discovered the name, paula broadwell fbi got access to her e-mail account and found she sent them. but they said her e-mail account also included what appeared to be suggestive e-mails from david petraeus, that first they wondered if somebody hacked into his private account. interviewed separately, both admitted their affair, officials say. broadwell, in late september, petraeus, in october, low-level documents were found on her computer. agents eventually determined she had proper access to them after reviewing all the evidence, the prosecutors determined no crimes were committed no leaking of classified information. no threat to national security. some say they, or at least president obama should have been

told about the investigation while it was going on. >> once the fbi realized they were investigating the cia director, or they came within the scope, i believe at that time they had the absolute need to tell the president. not to protect david petraeus, but to protect the president >> reporter: but the justice department official says the fbi never tells other agencies when they're in the middle of a criminal investigation. they note that federal law says that congressional intelligence committees must be notified of all intelligence activities, and the affair didn't meet that test. and they say the fbi is sensitive to its past when former director hoover gave details to get what he wanted >> the only time would be if the general was found to have leaked classified information. so the fbi followed protocol

and did the right thing in this case. >> reporter: officials here say that general clapper, the director of intelligence, was told about all of this with no recommendations made last week as a personnel matter, not as an intelligence matter. >> all right, pete williams at the justice department tonight, thank you we shift our focus now to indianapolis where a mysterious explosion totally changed the landscape of an entire neighborhood over the weekend. you can see what the richmond hills subdivision south of the city looked like before 11:00 saturday night and post 11:00 p.m. saturday night, more on the story. ron allen is there for us, good evening >> reporter: good evening, brian, a homeowner has told authorities that the faulty gas furnace in his home may be to blame. the family was not there when the explosion happened. still, the investigation continues some 200 people fled their home that night and had no idea what hit them. 11:00 on a saturday night,

without warning an explosion so powerful it was heard miles away, rocks a middle class neighborhood. flames engulf several homes. residents say they thought a plane had crashed. or an earthquake had struck >> the windows were blown in, my daughter was under about you know, 12 panes of glass. >> reporter: relatives say a couple living next door to the blast site were killed when their house was also destroyed. shocked and grieving last night, at a vigil for jennifer longworth, a second grade teacher, and her husband, deon. she was one of the best teachers i have ever had >> the primary blast site is where the investigators are now. >> reporter: the public safety director gave us a close-up look at the damage. he says dozens of homes are not inhabitable. how confident now that this neighborhood is safe? >> obviously, they are not safe, until we have the all-clear from code enforcement and director of homeland security.

but it's going to be a long process >> reporter: the residents here were escorted to their homes, where they had an hour to salvage what they could. >> i'm just not up for this. i'm a retiree, and with heart problems, and this is the last thing i needed. >> reporter: officials at the gas company say they have not found any leaks in the system, nor were any reported in the days up until the blast. meanwhile, the investigation continues, no cause known as of now, brian. >> all right, ron allen in indianapolis tonight, ron, thank you it has been two weeks since hurricane sandy came to shore in the northeast. there are still tens of thousands of people without power. entire neighborhoods still torn up from the disaster as the rest of the region adjusts to what governor chris christie said today is the new normal. nbc's rehema ellis is with us today from long beach on long island, good evening, rehema. >> reporter: good evening, brian, this is the sign of despair in the community, block

after block, personal belongings on the sidewalk in front of dark houses. and the mayor of this community says 90% of his residents are in the dark, and it is true of places in connecticut and new jersey, people desperate for the lights to come back on. and for shelter utility crews are hard at work, and one time more than a million people were without power, now it is around 54,000. 99% of the customers are expected to have power restored tomorrow evening, and not a moment too soon, for frustrated and angry residents living in the dark and cold for two weeks. thousands in new jersey and connecticut are in shelters, fema has approved $455 million in assistance and in temporary housing. one sign of recovery, the governor of new jersey says the gas rationing will end tomorrow. but for people here, the personal assessment goes on, while new york's governor says the state is looking at $30 billion in economic losses, brian.

>> rehema ellis, thank you, in a weird way the storm brought one community together in new jersey. there were 15 power trucks from the state of florida, alone. and remember, first there was sandy. then last week brought a nor'easter, which brought snow, sleet and blinding wind to the northeast. and the mid-atlantic, well, today it felt like spring. a warm 66 degrees here in new york city, while parts of the west and midwest get blasted with cold-like winter, all of which is prompting people to ask yet again, what is with our crazy weather extremes? our report from our chief correspondent anne thompson. >> reporter: america has a case of weather whiplash >> 60 degrees as the high on friday, and then 28 degrees as the high on saturday. >> reporter: this weekend, the west went from summer to winter overnight. >> and that is winter. >> it is winter.

>> reporter: today, the northeast enjoys the spring-like temperatures, still recovering from superstorm sandy, and the nor'easter that covered her debris in a record snowfall. >> this is something we've never seen before, any of the meteorologists here, for that matter. and it is something very, very unusual. >> reporter: you will get no argument from the people who have to deal with it. >> i am waiting for the locusts next. >> reporter: this region is dealing with the drought, the wildfires and the warmest month on record. in 2011, there were extreme events each doing a billion in damage. now some politicians are connecting the dots, blaming the gases that come from burning coal, oil and gas for changing the climate. >> climate change, extreme weather, call it what you will. it's undeniable >> reporter: but when it comes to one specific event like sandy, most scientists are cautious. >> we know that global warming shifts the odds of extreme events. so we can't say that sandy was definitely caused by global

warming, but we can definitely say it shifted the odds in its favor. >> reporter: what they are saying is that sea levels are rising here about a foot, since 1900. >> reporter: making the storm surge alter the coastline. it's not a question of if the sea level will rise, it is a question of how much question of how much what it depends on is how warm the climate gets and how quickly the ice in greenland and antarctica breaks off and falls into the sea. >> reporter: extreme weather with extreme price tags, becoming more commonplace. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. and still ahead, is there a connection between pregnancy and the flu and autism? we'll have a look at one of the stories in the news today. and later, how some of the war heroes spent this veteran's day, making a difference for people who could really use them right now.

we are back as promised with a reality check on a story that was in the news today. right as flu season arrives, a new study in the journal of pediatrics found that women who had the flu when they were pregnant were more likely to have a child later diagnosed with autism. we have asked our chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman, to put this in some perspective. >> we're putting it in perspective because it scares a lot of people. important study because this is out of denmark, covering over 96,000 children.

and because of their homogeneous population and very good record-keeping, they were able to ask women about their pregnancy that may have increased the risk for autism. here is what they didn't find. no increased risks with respiratory infections or with the common cold or with the use of antibiotics, but when they asked women about having the flu, the real fever, aches, pains, cough, flu that we talked about there was a two-fold increase with the diagnosis of flu then in children under the age of three. now, that still means that the incident was low, less than 1%. but last year at this time we talked about pregnant women being at risk themselves of flu and dying from it if they didn't get the shot. now the concern

regarding getting the shot to protect the developing fetus, so here is the message. although the risk may be small, if you're of child-bearing age and want to get pregnant or are pregnant, now is the time to get the flu shot, as we talked about in the fall. >> this got the attention of a lot of people today, thank you, nancy, as always. up next, the big news just in, from the american road.

well you can't blame anybody for wanting an escape from the election returns and the storm damage, and then news people being so negative about everything. as a result, movie-goers richly rewarded this weekend, daniel craig and his pals, the new 007 skyfall, won the record this weekend, setting a record for the entire bond franchise, coming in at just under $90 million.

well, they had a wild time of it yesterday at the nascar race in phoenix, when two drivers got into it on the track and then both race teams got on into it in the pit. jeff gordon and clint bowyer don't like each other, gordon had enough of it, put clint bowyer into the wall, sparking the event. though this came nowhere near the all-time standard for us nascar fans, when yarbrough and bobby allison went after it at the daytona 500. and we're not necessarily talking about the left lane, women have passed men on the road in a very important way. we just learned today for the first time, more women now have driver's license, this reverses a long-time gender gap behind the wheel. the experts are predicting this will affect the american auto industry, because women drivers are more likely to demand smaller, safer and more energy-efficient cars.

lance armstrong has cut his remaining ties with the charity he founded. back in october you will recall he resigned as chairman of livestrong. but he kept a seat on the board. well today, he gave that up. and on his way out he posted a photo of himself on twitter, relaxing at home, surrounded by his seven tour de france yellow jerseys, representing the seven tour de france titles he has now been stripped of, as a result of the doping scandal. up here next, the veterans, marking their own holiday by making a difference for others.

and coming off the veteran's day holiday it is time for our "making a difference report," since our veterans already know how to sign up for duty having already done it once, a whole lot of veterans did it this weekend, in some places that really need their help after the storm. and the vets treated it like a task, a mission, because that is how they know how to get the job done. our report tonight from stephanie gosk. >> when we get to the place. >> reporter: iraq war veteran harry golden has been in the rockaways, a hard-hit community

in queens, for a week. and even on veteran's day, a day dedicated to him, golden does not slow down. he is part of team rubicon, 300 volunteers coordinating the relief efforts since hurricane sandy hit two weeks ago. today he is leading the group from the marine academy. >> we're going to be here until we're not needed she needs her dry wall taken down and the ruined appliances moved out. >> what is it like to have these guys, these veterans show up here to do it? >> because you know, i would have had to pay to get this done. >> reporter: the veterans say they're actually uniquely trained for this. the crisis management is what they do. in fact, this is easier because in a war zone they're being shot at. golden is a former first lieutenant in the national guard, injured in 2006, in ramadi, iraq, one of the most violent cities during one of the war's most violent years. >> i went over with 21 in my platoon.

i lost a third of my guys. >> reporter: helping veterans deal with that kind of trauma is the other half of team rubicon's mission. >> we're taking vets, some of whom have been rolling stones since they got out of the military, without a mission, a purpose in life. and they're regaining that purpose. >> reporter: golden says this week in the rockaways has helped him more than the last several years. >> there are people around the country that came here on a moment's notice. because this is the opportunity for veterans to show people what we can do outside of combat. >> reporter: they are honored today for serving their country, something these vets prove they can do in and out of uniform. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. >> that is our broadcast as we start out a new week. thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams, and of course we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night.

right now the silicon valley legend in the middle of a murder investigation. we'll have the latest for you. after a smashing defeat at the ballot box state republicans are doing some serious soul-searching and some ask can the party survive? i'm jodi hernandez. a live report coming up. and how loud is too loud? the complaints about apple's flagship store. thank you for joining us on this monday. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. the far right lane in antioch still blocked after a car crashed a little after 5:0